Due to drought conditions and municipal directives, Reigle was among many in the Athens area who didn't spend as much time in 2008 as she would have liked on horticultural pursuits, even though she insists, "I mostly just play in the dirt."

But with more than 3.5 inches of rain than normal for the past 90 days in Athens, there has been plenty of precipitation, enabling citizens to loosen the water faucets ever so slightly for limited car washing and lawn watering.

"The drought played a huge part in what I didn't do last year," said Reigle, who has taught upper school math at Athens Academy for 26 years and is retiring at the end of this term. "Normally, I'll plant 200 annuals a year, but last year I didn't plant but a handful. So far this year, I've planted at least 100.

"I've also got an herb garden and some tomatoes, and my tomatoes didn't do well at all last year," she said. "We followed the water restriction rules, and I just couldn't get enough water on the tomatoes. But my hydrangea garden is coming back - the rain has been very beneficial."

Government officials in Athens-Clarke and Oconee counties recently relaxed water restrictions to allow for some watering on specified days, so it would appear that the multiyear swoon endured - and survived - by the horticulture industry is over, with plenty of shopping days ahead.

And in the Athens area, individual nurseries and landscape companies are having some good days. However, just as a little extra seasonal rain is helping revive the horticulture industry, nurseries and landscapers still are dealing with the economic issue other businesses have been grappling with - folks just don't have as much money to spend as they did a year or two ago.

"Our last industry survey was done over a year ago," said Chris Butts, director of legislative, environmental and public affairs for the Georgia Green Industry Association, which has represented hundreds of green industry entities since 1990.

"At that point, it indicated the loss of over 30,000 jobs and $1 billion in economic impact."

The association has not been able to complete another study yet, but when you consider the continued economic slump on top of the drought, the ranks of green businesses have continued to thin, Butts said.

"If you go through the Yellow Pages now versus two years ago, there are fewer companies," he said. "In 2008 versus 2007, there were 40 percent fewer grower licenses issued through the Department of Agriculture."

Some nursery owners in the area, who have reported brisk sales in recent weeks, think the tough economic times are drawing people back to their own homes and yards.

"Historically, when the economy is in a depression, people do more planting and gardening," said Sally Barksdale of Thyme After Thyme in Winterville, who added that the wet spring has gotten people "riled up again" about planting. "And we've also found that with recent food scares, people are putting in their own vegetable gardens to create their own produce."

"The industry itself isn't that far distant from traditional farming and traditional farmers," Butts added. "Even before spring came this year, the industry was optimistic that we might get back to a normal time, and the economy in some sense may even help that. When people can't afford to go on vacations or do big projects on their house ... they stay home and make improvements to the yard. Our retailers are reporting a pretty good spring, and we think that might be an influence there."

Stuart Cofer, of Cofer's Home and Garden Showplace in Athens, said he was pleased with his recent uptick in transactions but thinks it could have come earlier in the year if the city and state had eased watering restrictions sooner.

"Our sales are up 15 (percent) to 20 percent from this time last year," Cofer said. "Our industry is for conserving water when we don't have it, but when we do have it, people need to be able to use it. Athens-Clarke County has historically been too tight on water restrictions, but the state has a lot to do with that. We've traditionally got plenty of water available from January to April, but the state restricted the use of water, which is ridiculous. It shows how depressed our industry can be due to the lack of water."

Calling water "our economic stimulus package," Cofer said his increase in business has enabled him to add to the staff.

"This time last year, we had to let people go and cut back hours," he said. "At the time, we had maybe 15 people on staff. Right now, we've got 20-25 on staff, so we've been able to hire more than 10 people."

Cofer's has enjoyed a "delightfully overwhelming" increase in business this spring, something many businesses can't say under the current slower economic conditions, Cofer said.

In the Madison County town of Ila, John Dunleavy of Pine Bush Nursery (which has both retail and wholesale offerings) said the spring had brought him a lot of tire kickers.

"Business could be better," he said. "We're actually down from this time last year. We're seeing more customers, but they're spending less money. Last year, the first three or four months of the year were good, but this year we're actually 25 percent down on retail sales, even though we have far more customers. ... We're way up on customers but the volume isn't there yet."

Landscapers fall into a variety of categories, but seem to be enjoying a good run of business, primarily on the maintenance side, although designs and installations appear feasible this summer, something no one was thinking of last year.

"The average job size is smaller, but homeowners see it as an opportunity to increase the value of their homes and to add to their quality of life after cutting back on other things," said Ron Deal of Southern Landscape and Design in Athens.

Athens landscapers also are facing more competition from companies in Atlanta where business has gotten so bad, "they're desperate, selling work at low prices," Deal said.

Deal said he was determined to keep as many people on the payroll as possible during the past several lean years and has benefited from the decision, so to speak.

"We held on to all our people," he said. "It seemed like we didn't really know when the drought ended and the economy began. We made the decision to hold on to our people because they're our most valuable asset. I also knew if we lost them, we wouldn't be able to get them back because they were so good. So it took some sacrifices - maybe my retirement is a pipedream - but I'm very glad we were able to do that because (employees) are appreciative of the sacrifice."

Chris Boswell of Four Seasons Lawn Maintenance said his lawn crews are keeping busy, and some installation work was in the future.

"We've had enough rain in the early spring to make business really good," Boswell said. "We haven't been doing many installations but the maintenance aspect of our business has been really steady. Business has gotten better than it has been in past years. The work is definitely out there, but people are holding on to their money a little longer. It takes a little more time to convince them, and they want to think about it, which is understandable because even a penny is more valuable now than it was a year ago."

Boswell added that the company has grown in its maintenance assignments, but he's knows the feeling of losing out on a job to the economy.

"We've picked up quite a few maintenance accounts since January," he said. "Last year, we had a few drop off because people were trying to save money. When you're looking around to save money, me and the maid are the first people to go. There was one situation last year where somebody fired their maid before they fired me, so I felt that was a compliment."

In looking at the future, about the only things that most agree upon is that they don't have much in the way of control over the weather or the economy. But ideas for improving matters during the hard times are plentiful.

Butts thinks that increased education in water management and stronger pronouncements of relaxed restrictions would be of great help.

"What I'm hearing is a lot of frustration on the part of landscapers and growers that the process for coming out of the drought or the timeline for easing those restrictions seems to lag behind the changing conditions we've had," Butts said. "The reservoirs are full and stream flows are up, but folks haven't gone out and started projects, at least in their minds, because the restrictions are still in place.

Every day it rains helps change that perception in the public's mind, he added.

"We hope with continued rain and as green and as pretty as everything looks that people will get back in their minds that it's OK to get back out and garden," Butts said.

Deal said that last year's drought and the restraints on watering played a role in the damage that the early March snowstorm wreaked on the region.

"A lot has to do with how water use is handled," he said. "This is a good time to see what needs to be tweaked. People need to look at the damage that was done during the drought. There were a lot of dead trees and a lot of damaged property and it wasn't all just because of the snow. A lot of trees and plants were weakened by the drought and the restrictions. I'm hoping our industry can be on the front edge of keeping things in better shape."

For her part, Reigle is delighted that the rains have returned.

"Every time I've gone to the nursery, I've seen a lot of people there," she said. "Last year was tough, but I'm very happy now."